Year A
Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
Romans 15:4-13
Matthew 3:1-12
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John the Baptist wears symbolic clothing and eats symbolic food\u2026 both of which suggest people and processes in Israel’s past\u2026 both of which explore the dynamics of repentance\u2026 John’s clothing is reminiscent of Elijah’s\u2026 in a story from 2Kings (1:1-18)\u2026 here’s how\u2026 King Ahaziah had been seriously injured in a fall\u2026 and sent messengers to ask Baal-zebub\u2026 the god of Ekron\u2026 whether or not he would recover\u2026 but an angel tipped Elijah off\u2026 and Elijah intercepted those messengers\u2026 and turned them around and told them to ask Ahaziah\u2026 somewhat rhetorically\u2026 Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub\u2026 the god of Ekron\u2026 Therefore you shall not leave the bed to which you have gone\u2026 but shall surely die\u2026 <\/em>and when Ahaziah asked them what this man looked like\u2026 they said\u2026 he was a hairy man\u2026 with a leather belt around his waist<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the Baptist eats inedible locusts and untamed honey\u2026 locusts\u2026 one of the plagues against Egypt\u2026 plagues intended to soften Pharaoh’s heart\u2026 but did not\u2026 locusts\u2026 which symbolized divine judgment\u2026 and honey\u2026 reminiscent of the scroll God gave Ezekiel to eat\u2026 a scroll on which was written\u2026 lamentation and mourning and woe<\/em>\u2026 but when Ezekiel ate it\u2026 it was as sweet as honey\u2026 because the harshness of divine judgement became the sweetness of human fulfillment\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Church consultant Calvin Chinn wrote: The Baptist doesn\u2019t fit the norm of how we picture ordinary people\u2026 he knows that the way to the garden of human flourishing is through the desert of self-confrontation\u2026 and like so many other people\u2026 he is subject to our prejudice and dismissal\u2026 and so in appearance as well as in word\u2026 John preaches repentance\u2026 not as an end in itself\u2026 but the first step in a process of fulfillment\u2026 a command to reorient ourselves\u2026 to turn from our former ways\u2026 to change our attitude and perceptions\u2026 and of those who come out to hear him\u2026 whose hearts do not change\u2026 who lack sufficient character\u2026 who are challenged to but do not bear fruit worthy of repentance\u2026 John indicts as a brood of vipers\u2026 John\u2019s command is to act out of awe and reverence\u2026 instead of out of being afraid\u2026 and reverence begins with a deep understanding of our own limitations\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. John Shea reminds us\u2026 that John the Baptist\u2019s vocation\u2026 is to lead the heart to the place where God will speak\u2026 but too often\u2026 for too many people\u2026 the city is so noisy with sound and distraction\u2026 that we cannot hear God whispering in our heart\u2026 in the summer of 1971\u2026 I spent three weeks on an archaeological dig in Beersheba\u2026 in the desert\u2026 and I spent some late afternoons up on top of the Tel\u2026 by myself\u2026 with only the sound of the wind\u2026 and the sounds of my thoughts\u2026 and it was the kind of stillness in which one just might hear God\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now stay with me\u2026 I’m going to link together a few passages\u2026 that may be why the prophet Hosea wrote in 2:14-15\u2026 Therefore I will now allure her\u2026 and bring her into the wilderness\u2026 and speak tenderly to her\u2026 from there I will give her her vineyards\u2026 and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope\u2026 there she shall respond as in the days of her youth\u2026 as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt<\/em>\u2026 and there\u2019s a backstory to the Valley of Achor\u2026 here\u2019s why Isaiah refers to it\u2026 Achor means trouble\u2026 and the Valley was named Trouble\u2026 because Achan\u2026 of the Tribe of Judah\u2026 stole some objects that belonged to God\u2026 objects previously owned by the people of Ai\u2026 objects that were dedicated\u2026 which means they were intended by God to be completely consumed by fire\u2026 objects that belonged to God because God secured Israel\u2019s victory\u2026 but Achan took a beautiful mantle from Shinar\u2026 and two hundred shekels of silver\u2026 and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels\u2026 and buried them in the ground beneath his tent\u2026 and as a result\u2026 he and his family and his animals were punished by death\u2026 but Isaiah says\u2026 that the Valley of Trouble will become a Valley of Hope\u2026 the same kind of hope\u2026 when after four hundred years of slavery\u2026 of being oppressed\u2026 the Israelites were ready to be God’s people\u2026 because they listened\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n John listens to God\u2026 and baptizes people\u2026 washes off the toll of living\u2026 returns them to freshness\u2026 he pushes them beneath the water\u2026 and pulls them out\u2026 ready and eager for new breath and for new life\u2026 and if this heart leading\u2026 this metanoia<\/em>\u2026 this repentance\u2026 is engaged in correctly\u2026 the baptized will be able to use the Key of David to unlock the experience of Isaiah\u2026 the Key of David unlocks the heart\u2026 and enables us to perceive the Kingdom of Heaven which is already here\u2026 right in front of us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first half of today\u2019s reading from Isaiah\u2026 is about heart and hope\u2026 it describes the qualities of the divine king\u2026 who doesn\u2019t judge based on what is seen\u2026 or decide based on what is heard\u2026 but arbitrates from an unlocked heart\u2026 and the second half of the passage describes the kingdom itself\u2026 in which there is equanimity and peace\u2026 and today\u2019s reading from Romans mentions hope\u2026 four times\u2026 hope sustains us\u2026 because when we find ourselves in a dilemma\u2026 when we realize that our own efforts\u2026 or those of others\u2026 aren\u2019t enough\u2026 when we acknowledge the fact that we cannot control the wind\u2026 the many variables which inform the outcome of some pressing crisis that\u2019s swirling around us\u2026 when we find in ourselves a willingness to acknowledge our human limitations\u2026 our powerlessness over the cosmic waters of chaos\u2026 we can come back to the waters of baptism\u2026 and what they have unlocked for us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But who has this Key of David\u2026 we do\u2026 but it works more effortlessly\u2026 when the lock of our heart has been oiled with the awe and reverence\u2026 and the fear and the respect of the Lord\u2026 as individuals\u2026 we cannot be replaced\u2026 there has never been and there will never be another one of us\u2026 and God desires not to diminish our preciousness or our value\u2026 God loves us\u2026 God wants the best for us\u2026 God blesses and forgives us\u2026 and invites us over and over again to be God’s co-creators\u2026 but God also judges our suitability for the job\u2026 God has a plan of fulfillment for this created universe\u2026 but God won’t\u2026 or can’t always wait for us to be ready\u2026 and so when we can\u2019t step up to the plate\u2026 when we don\u2019t live into our potential\u2026 if we\u2019re not bearing the right kind of fruit\u2026 God will find someone who will\u2026 and God is so committed to this goal\u2026 that if needed\u2026 God can even raise up righteous children of Abraham\u2026 from stones\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that: \u00a0Love never ends\u2026\u00a0 but prophecies will end\u2026\u00a0 tongues will cease\u2026\u00a0 and knowledge will also end\u2026\u00a0 because we know only in part\u2026\u00a0 and prophesy only in part\u2026\u00a0 but when the complete comes the partial will end\u2026\u00a0 and while now we see in a mirror dimly\u2026\u00a0 then we will see face to face\u2026\u00a0 and faith\u2026\u00a0 hope\u2026\u00a0 and love abide\u2026\u00a0 and the greatest of these is love\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advent reminds us that one day\u2026 our faith will become something we see\u2026 as we use more and more of our hearts to see God’s Kingdom that\u2019s right in front of us\u2026 and our hope will be realized in the Peaceable Kingdom that Isaiah describes\u2026 and then we won’t need faith or hope\u2026 because in the eternal state\u2026 the greatest quality\u2026 which is love\u2026 will engulf us\u2026 and love will never cease\u2026 and for that we say\u2026 Thanks be to God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Isaiah 11:1-10 Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 Romans 15:4-13 Matthew 3:1-12May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 John the Baptist wears symbolic clothing and eats symbolic food\u2026 both of which suggest people and processes in Israel’s past\u2026 both of which explore the dynamics of repentance\u2026 John’s clothing is reminiscent of Elijah’s\u2026 in a story from 2Kings (1:1-18)\u2026 here’s how\u2026 King Ahaziah had been seriously injured in a fall\u2026 and sent messengers to ask Baal-zebub\u2026 the god of Ekron\u2026 whether or not he would recover\u2026 but an angel tipped Elijah off\u2026 and Elijah intercepted those messengers\u2026 and turned them around and told them to ask Ahaziah\u2026 somewhat rhetorically\u2026 Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub\u2026 the god of Ekron\u2026 Therefore you shall not leave the bed to which you have gone\u2026 but shall surely die\u2026 and when Ahaziah asked them what this man looked like\u2026 they said\u2026 he was a hairy man\u2026 with a leather belt around his waist\u2026 And the Baptist eats inedible locusts and untamed honey\u2026 locusts\u2026 one of the plagues against Egypt\u2026 plagues intended to soften Pharaoh’s heart\u2026 but did not\u2026 locusts\u2026 which symbolized divine judgment\u2026 and honey\u2026 reminiscent of the scroll God gave Ezekiel to eat\u2026 a scroll on which was written\u2026 lamentation and mourning and woe\u2026 but when Ezekiel ate it\u2026 it was as sweet as honey\u2026 because the harshness of divine judgement became the sweetness of human fulfillment\u2026 Church consultant Calvin Chinn wrote: The Baptist doesn\u2019t fit the norm of how we picture ordinary people\u2026 he knows that the way to the garden of human flourishing is through the desert of self-confrontation\u2026 and like so many other people\u2026 he is subject to our prejudice and dismissal\u2026 and so in appearance as well as in word\u2026 John preaches repentance\u2026 not as an end in itself\u2026 but the first step in a process of fulfillment\u2026 a command to reorient ourselves\u2026 to turn from our former ways\u2026 to change our attitude and perceptions\u2026 and of those who come out to hear him\u2026 whose hearts do not change\u2026 who lack sufficient character\u2026 who are challenged to but do not bear fruit worthy of repentance\u2026 John indicts as a brood of vipers\u2026 John\u2019s command is to act out of awe and reverence\u2026 instead of out of being afraid\u2026 and reverence begins with a deep understanding of our own limitations\u2026 Fr. John Shea reminds us\u2026 that John the Baptist\u2019s vocation\u2026 is to lead the heart to the place where God will speak\u2026 but too often\u2026 for too many people\u2026 the city is so noisy with sound and distraction\u2026 that we cannot hear God whispering in our heart\u2026 in the summer of 1971\u2026 I spent three weeks on an archaeological dig in Beersheba\u2026 in the desert\u2026 and I spent some late afternoons up on top of the Tel\u2026 by myself\u2026 with only the sound of the wind\u2026 and the sounds of my thoughts\u2026 and it was the kind of stillness in which one just might hear God\u2026 Now stay with me\u2026 I’m going to link together a few passages\u2026 that may be why the prophet Hosea wrote in 2:14-15\u2026 Therefore I will now allure her\u2026 and bring her into the wilderness\u2026 and speak tenderly to her\u2026 from there I will give her her vineyards\u2026 and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope\u2026 there she shall respond as in the days of her youth\u2026 as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt\u2026 and there\u2019s a backstory to the Valley of Achor\u2026 here\u2019s why Isaiah refers to it\u2026 Achor means trouble\u2026 and the Valley was named Trouble\u2026 because Achan\u2026 of the Tribe of Judah\u2026 stole some objects that belonged to God\u2026 objects previously owned by the people of Ai\u2026 objects that were dedicated\u2026 which means they were intended by God to be completely consumed by fire\u2026 objects that belonged to God because God secured Israel\u2019s victory\u2026 but Achan took a beautiful mantle from Shinar\u2026 and two hundred shekels of silver\u2026 and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels\u2026 and buried them in the ground beneath his tent\u2026 and as a result\u2026 he and his family and his animals were punished by death\u2026 but Isaiah says\u2026 that the Valley of Trouble will become a Valley of Hope\u2026 the same kind of hope\u2026 when after four hundred years of slavery\u2026 of being oppressed\u2026 the Israelites were ready to be God’s people\u2026 because they listened\u2026 John listens to God\u2026 and baptizes people\u2026 washes off the toll of living\u2026 returns them to freshness\u2026 he pushes them beneath the water\u2026 and pulls them out\u2026 ready and eager for new breath and for new life\u2026 and if this heart leading\u2026 this metanoia\u2026 this repentance\u2026 is engaged in correctly\u2026 the baptized will be able to use the Key of David to unlock the experience of Isaiah\u2026 the Key of David unlocks the heart\u2026 and enables us to perceive the Kingdom of Heaven which is already here\u2026 right in front of us\u2026 The first half of today\u2019s reading from Isaiah\u2026 is about heart and hope\u2026 it describes the qualities of the divine king\u2026 who doesn\u2019t judge based on what is seen\u2026 or decide based on what is heard\u2026 but arbitrates from an unlocked heart\u2026 and the second half of the passage describes the kingdom itself\u2026 in which there is equanimity and peace\u2026 and today\u2019s reading from Romans mentions hope\u2026 four times\u2026 hope sustains us\u2026 because when we find ourselves in a dilemma\u2026 when we realize that our own efforts\u2026 or those of others\u2026 aren\u2019t enough\u2026 when we acknowledge the fact that we cannot control the wind\u2026 the many variables which inform the outcome of some pressing crisis that\u2019s swirling around us\u2026 when we find in ourselves a willingness to acknowledge our human limitations\u2026 our powerlessness over the cosmic waters of chaos\u2026 we can come back to the waters of baptism\u2026 and what they have unlocked for us\u2026 But who has this Key of David\u2026 we 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